The Lewin's Honeyeater is an east coast rainforest bird. Most of my awareness of the presence of a Lewin's is the loud staccato, 'machine-gun-like' call. The dense forest that they like to inhabit has nearly always meant that I was able to achieve only fleeting glimpses of the bird.

The photo on the left was the best I'd been able to achieve until recently.

On a recent day trip to Tarra Valley in South Gippsland, we stopped in at Fernholme for one of Margaret and David's magnificent Devonshire teas.

While sitting in the garden with our scones and tea only half consumed, a Lewin's zoomed in to a pruned ornamental tree behind us.

Slowly raising the camera I got off one or two shots before it zipped off again. Still, a slightly better picture than my previous best.

A few moments later, the bird was back. It landed on the arm of a chair on the opposite side of the table we were sitting at, almost too close for my long lens to cope. I couldn't fit the whole bird in the frame. Fantastic.

Next we saw what the bird was after. We'd left some of strawberry jam on the far side of the table. I think this bird had done this before.

Pretty obvious that we weren't alone in being a bit partial to a Devonshire tea treat in the middle of the afternoon.

Finally, an acceptable shot of a Lewin's to add to the 'Honeyeater' folder.

(Click on images for a larger view)